Auger mining machine



May 28, 1963 Filed June 20, 1960 Fig. I

G. L. ADAMS ETAL AUGER MINING MACHINE 6 Shee'cs55heet 1 IN ENTORS Geazcu. 04w! CHARLES 7760 w May 28, 1963 G. 1.. ADAMS ETAL 3,091,439

AUGER MINING MACHINE Filed June 20, 1960 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 THE/,2 A rroeusv m4 m m & y J s 5 a & w 2 Q 2 A M a 4 w o o 0 nm o o o k o o o Q Q v AV 0 & Nb mi h. 3 w Mn 3 May ZS, 1963 G. ADAMS ETAL AUGER MINING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 20, 1960 7715/2 A 7" TORME Y May 28, 1963 G. ADAMS ETAL AUGER MINING MACHINE I 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 20, 1960 NVENTORS 6201062! Amuse BY CHAkLtZS 77Gb WM THE/R A TTOEAIEY May 28, ,1963 G. ADAMS ETAL AUGER MINING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 20. 1960 Y E W n m m fi b A 4 n a a O E H 65% May 28, 1963 e. ADAMS ETAL AUGER MINING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed June 20. 1960 H m m NMw r WA. 0 T MW .r a as a G L A M 2 m C 6 m% fi a corporation of Ohio Filed June 20, 1960, Ser. No. 37,490 10 Claims. (Cl. 262-26) This invention relates generally to auger mining machines and more particularly to a dual auger mining machine having dual auger storage racks.

The angering machine of this invention employs two angers that rotate in opposite directions to cut two closely adjacent holes that do not overlap each other and a cutting head is mounted between the augers to hold the augers in spaced relation and to break out the thin wall and upper and lower cusps in the coal during the boring operation. The dual auger strings continue from the cutting head to the machine. These angers are of opposite hand and are preferably rotated to move the coal from the center to the outer portions of the bored holes formed by the cutting head. This cutting head may include reciprocating members to aid in chipping the cusps from between the dual angers. This chipping action also aids in directing the dislodgment of the coal away from the midposition between the dual angers.

The principal object of this invention is the provision of an improved mining machine which receives and feeds the auger sections during the mining operation and is provided with laterally disposed storage racks supported from the skids to steer and guide the machine in its movement laterally from one boring position to another and at the same time support the storage auger racks.

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the following description and claims.

The accompanying drawings show for the purpose of exemplification without limiting the claims thereto, certain practical embodiments illustrating the principles of this invention wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the dual angering machine comprising this invention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the dual angering machine with parts in section.

FIG. 3 is a view taken on the line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the dual angering machine.

FIG. 5 is a view in vertical section of the auger storage rack.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the auger Storage rack.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4 of the drawings the angering machine consists of the frame 1 constructed of a pair of longitudinally disposed parallel I-beams 2 and 3 joined by a plurality of channel members 4 on the under side thereof and connected by the continuous belly plate 5 that extends from one I-beam to another and is braced by a series of brace plates 6. The outer face of the I- beams 2 and 3 are provided with the outboard tbrace plates 7 along the sides of the frame to provide for the walkways 8. The frame members 10 which consist of the riser posts 11, the cross members 12 and the longitudinal beam 13 function to support the auger baffle frame 16 as well as the four vertical jacks 17 in the riser tubes 11. The Vertical lifting jacks 17 are capable of lifting the whole of the machine and their large disc type feet are enabled to be 3,091,439 Patented May 28, 1963 raised above the skids 18 which support the mining machine for guiding movement and travel along the ground. The underside of the skids 18 represent the lowermost surface of the mining machine when the jacks 17 are retracted. These skids are retained to the under side of the frame 1 by the brackets 19 and the frame 1 in turn is provided with rollers 29 to support the movement of the frame on the skids.

The belly plate 5 supports the right hand and left hand auger sections 20 and 21 side by side and in spaced relation and are aided in retaining their position when rotated by the guide bars 22. These auger sections are coupled to the mining head and the first two auger sections are preferably provided with a tread section and are .joined together at their front and rear ends by the bearing spacing bars 24 and 25 respectively. The right hand auger flights 20 are provided with the cutting head 26' and the left hand auger flights 21 are provided with the cutting head 27. The forward spacing bar 24 carries -a bearing for each auger section to support the short shaft sections 28 which is preferably provided with a nonround pin on each side of the bearing bar to be received in the nonround socket of the cutting heads 26 and 27 or the nonround sockets of the auger flights 20 and 21. Each cutting head is provided with its own sectional flight 29 to feed the coal from the cutting head rearwardly past the forward bearing space bar 24 to the auger flight sections 20 and 21.

The forward space bar 24 has mounted thereon the vertically disposed cutter 30 having three cutting bits as indicated at 31, 32 and 33. The central bit 32 may overlap the path of the outermost teeth of the cutting heads 26 and 27 but it is positioned to the rear of the same and is the foremost bit of the cutter 30 and will chip out the thin section of coal if it has not already fallen that would lie between the cutting diameters of the cutting heads 26 and 27. The bearing spacing bars 24 and 25 may be set to make the sweep of the rotary cutters 26 and 27 tangent to each other or spaced from each other. In any event, it is preferable to have them relatively close so that the width of the bit 32 of the cutter 30 is able to function in performing its task to insure the breaking of the thin web between the two diameters.

The upper and lower bits 31 and 33 initially chip away the upper and lower cusps as illustrated in FIG. 2.

The machine is provided with rear auger latch release cylinders 57 and 58 which carry the cam sections 59 for engaging the unlatch pins on the driving coupling 60 which is bolted to the coupling bit 61 attached to the drive shafts of their respective gearboxes 62 and 63 as shown in FIG. 1. These shafts indicate the rotation of the auger lines, the 'line driven from the gearbox 62 being counterclockwise and the line driven from the gearbox 63 being clockwise. In order to actuate the automatic front and rear latch release mechanisms it is necessary to stock the auger sections in a predetermined position which position as shown in FIG. 3 leaves the hole 64 in the center of the auger flight on the top of the auger which permits the same to be engaged by hook members from the hoist lines 65.

The hoists 66 are positioned outwardly of the front lifting jacks 11 and are stepped in the deep tubular sockets 67 that are provided with step bearings 68 at their lower end and a bronze bearing 69 at the upper end of the socket above which is positioned a sprocket 70 driven by a chain from a sprocket on a shaft of the motor 71. Each hoist member 66 thus may be made to swivel on its step bearing through 360 if necessary. The upper end of the hoist is provided with a bracket member 72 that supports the outwardly projecting box member 73 that slidably supports the boom member 7 4 that is guided by the box member 73 that functions as a track for the boom. The boom 74 is provided with a depending bracket 75 to which is secured a piston 76 of the cylinder 77, the opposite end of which is pivotally secured to the inner end of the box 73 as indicated at 78. Thus by energizing the cylinder 77 the piston 76 moves the boom forwardly for the full length of the piston 76.

The boom in turn is provided with the cylinder 80 which is pivotally secured as indicated at 81 to the boom and extending from its opposite ends is the piston 82 which carries a pulley 83 at its outer end or at the back of the boom 74. A hoist line 65 travels over the pulley 84 pivoted to the forward end of the boom 74 and travels backwardly over the top of the pulley 83 and returns to the anchor 85 on one of the brackets that supports the cylinder 80 within the boom. Thus when the cylinder 80 is energized to retract the piston 82, the hook and the weight on the end of the hoist line 65 will descend and if it is necessary to extend the position of this hook from the center of rotation of the hoist mast 66 the cylinder 77 is energized to run the boom outwardly. Thus the hook is enabled to function within the varying radius of the center of rotation of the hoist mast 66 by the extension of the piston 76 from the cylinder 77 and the hook is enabled to be raised and lowered by the extent and contraction of the piston 82 within the cylinder 80. As shown in FIG. 1 the boom 74 can be swung outwardly at different radii to receive and discharge auger sections from their loading position on the machine bed to the auger storage racks 86 of which there is one on each side of the angering machine. Each angering storage rack has a pair of parallel pivoted arms 87 which are pivotally secured at 88 to the laterally extending ears 89 that are welded to the outer face of the I-beams 2 and 3 between the positions of the skids 18 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

The auger storage frames 86 are rectangular in shape being constructed of the parallel longitudinal channel members 90 connected by the four transverse channel members 91. The inner of these channel members are provided with a series of inverted angle irons 92 which are secured to the frame in alignment to form a seat for the tubes of the auger flights 20 and 21. As illustrated four sets of the brackets 92 are provided to support four auger flights in the bottom of the pile on which are stacked a row of three auger sections which in turn provide with the extensible posts 93 seats for four addi; tional auger sections in the next level. If the posts 93 are extended any higher they can be made to stack a considerable number of auger sections. However, as shown in FIG. 2 the angers are stacked .in six elevations but they reduce in number as they pyramid.

The outer transverse channel members 91 have secured to their under sides the rollers 94 which ride on the inner side of the top flat surface of the skids 18, the outer sides of which are occupied by the skid operating jacks 95.

Wheels 99 may be mounted in the sockets 96 to individually support each of the racks 86 as a trailer with a tongue 79. However, when the racks are mounted on the machine the wheels 99 are removed to provide more clearance between the bottom of the racks 86 and .the ground. It will be noted from FIGS. 2 and 3 that the skids have ample length to support both of theracks 86 on either side of the machinewhen themachine is prop erly located at a boring position.

Thus each of the hoists 66 with their expansible boom 74 may raise a pair of angers from the storage racks 86 and swing them into position against the auger baffle 16 to steady and straighten the same and then drop them down onto the bed plate 5 within the guides 22 in proper position so that they may be readily coupled. Since the hoist openings 64 in each auger section properly locks the auger section when lowered to the bed plate they may be readily coupled with the automatic latching means by merely moving the carriage forward to connect the couplings at the rear and at the front of the newly inserted auger section.

As shown in FIG. 2 a platform 97 is provided in front of the forward lifting jacks and the hoist controls show three control levers for each hoist for the purpose of swinging the hoist in either direction, extending or retracting the boom or raising and lowering the hoist line 65. Above the platform 97 is a screen canopy 98 which protects the hoist operator from falls from the hill. This also protects the forward end of the machine as well as the conveyor section indicated at 100 which withdraws the coal as it is carried over the extensible anger guide section 101 and drops onto the conveyor 100 from whence it is conducted to the elevating conveyor 102 to a truck or other transportation means.

In back of the gearboxes 62 and 63 is the chain drive 104 that extends from the shaft driving the gearbox 63 to the shaft driving the gearbox 62 and thence through the coupling 105 and the transmission 106 to the diesel engine 107. An auxiliary powered diesel engine 108 is placed on the side of the machine for operating ahydraulic pump 169 that serves all of the hydraulically actuated controls. The controls for operating the anger sections and feeding them forward is shown at the operator station 116 in FIG. 3.

We claim:

1. An anger mining machine comprising a frame, a rotatable mining assembly carried by said frame and pro vid'mg a uniform location to rotate and move the angers along said frame in mining, a spaced pair of parallel track members located beneath said frame for movement upon the ground, independently operated and controlled power means connecting each track member to the frame for moving each track member in either direction to steer and move the frame along the ground, an anger storage rack along one side of said frame, latch means to hold said auger storage rack to said frame, and support means on said auger storage rack engaging said track members to carry the same along with said frame to maintain the angers at a uniform location.

2. The auger mining machine of claim 1 characterized in that said latch means includes a horizontal pivot to permit said auger storage rack to ride at different angles relative to said frame.

3. The auger mining machine of claim 2 which also includes wheel supports on said auger storage racks, wheels for said supports to provide independent mobility of said auger storage rack when said horizontal pivot is detached.

4. The auger mining machine of claim 3 characterized by tongue fastening means on said auger storage rack to pull the same when mounted on wheels.

5. The auger mining machine of claim 4 characterized in that said tongue fastening means are on one end of said auger storage rack to draw the same upto the side of said frame.

6. The auger mining machine of claim 1 characterized in that said support means is a roller attached to said auger storage rack for each track member.

7. The auger mining machine of claim 1 characterized by adjustable vertical posts adjacent the four corners of said auger storage rack to stack the stored auger-s higher.

8. An auger mining machine comprising a mobile frame, a rotatable mining assembly carried by said frame to rotate and move the angers in mining, an anger storage rack at one side of said frame, spaced pivot means con- 6 neoting one end of said rack to said frame to support the independent rollers attached to said rack and engaging same, and rotary means attached to said rack and spaced said track members.

from said firame to aid in supporting the same.

9. The auger mining machine of claim 8 characterized References Clted m the file of thls patent in that said rotary means are independent wheels attached 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 W1 rack- 2,616,677 Compton Nov. 4, 1952 10. The auger mlmng machlne of claim 8 characterized 2 719 70 Compton 0 4 1955 by independently operated and horizontally spaced track 2,935,309 Mccamhy May 3, 19 0 members to support said frame, said rotary means are 2,951,693 Caromthers Sept. 6, 1960 

1. AN AUGER MINING MACHINE COMPRISING A FRAME, A ROTATABLE MINING ASSEMBLY CARRIED BY SAID FRAME AND PROVIDING A UNIFORM LOCATION TO ROTATE AND MOVE THE AUGERS ALONG SAID FRAME IN MINING, A SPACED PAIR OF PARALLEL TRACK MEMBERS LOCATED BENEATH SAID FRAME FOR MOVEMENT UPON THE GROUND, INDEPENDENTLY OPERATED AND CONTROLLED POWER MEANS CONNECTING EACH TRACK MEMBER TO THE FRAME FOR MOVING EACH TRACK MEMBER IN EITHER DIRECTION TO STEER AND MOVE THE FRAME ALONG THE GROUND, AN AUGER STORAGE RACK ALONG ONE SIDE OF SAID FRAME, LATCH MEANS TO HOLD SAID AUGER STORAGE RACK TO SAID FRAME, LATCH MEANS TO HOLD SAID SAID AUGER STORAGE RACK ENGAGING SAID TRACK MEMBERS TO CARRY THE SAME ALONG WITH SAID FRAME TO MAINTAIN THE AUGERS AT A UNIFORM LOCATION. 